1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape recorder, and more particularly, to a locking device for locking a tape cassette housing, which comes into resilient and close contact with a deck chassis as a tape cassette is loaded into the deck chassis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a tape recorder having a deck mechanism is an apparatus that records/reproduces audio and/or video information on/from a magnetic tape. Regarding this type of the tape recorder, common examples include a video tape recorder (VTR), a digital audio tape recorder (DAT), and a camcorder.
FIG. 1 shows a moving deck 100 of a camcorder. The camcorder is taken as one example of the tape recorder. As shown in FIG. 1, the moving deck 100 includes a deck chassis 110, a tape cassette housing 120, and a locking device 190 for locking the tape cassette housing 120 onto the deck chassis 110. In the case of the moving deck 100 which is usually employed for the camcorder, the deck chassis 110 includes a main-chassis 111 and a sub-chassis 112 that reciprocally slides on the main-chassis 111 as a magnetic tape is loaded/unloaded.
The tape cassette housing 120 is for loading a tape cassette removably. First and second link members 160 and 170 hinged to both sides of the tape cassette housing 120 are slidably connected to the sub chassis 112, thereby allowing the tape cassette housing 120 to ascend and descend from and to the sub-chassis 112.
The locking device 190 includes a locking protrusion 195, a locking recess 197 corresponding to the locking protrusion 195, and a locking lever 191 hinged to a side of the tape cassette housing 120. The locking lever 191 is connected to the first link member 160 by a resilient member 180. The locking protrusion 195 is generally shaped as a cylinder protruding from a side of the locking lever 191. This locking protrusion 195 is formed by drawing the side of the locking lever 191 or by providing a separate rotatable roller member (not shown) on the side surface of the locking lever 191. The locking recess 197 is integrally formed with the sub-chassis 112 by cutting a part of a side of the sub chassis 112.
Hereinafter, the descriptions will be made about loading and unloading operations of the tape cassette of the tape recorder as constructed above.
A loading operation of the tape cassette is performed as follows: the tape cassette housing 120 housing the tape cassette therein is pressed toward the sub-chassis 112 and thus the locking protrusion 195 of the locking lever 191 is inserted into the locking recess 197 as shown in FIG. 2. An unloading operation of the tape cassette is performed as follows: an unlocking lever 117, pivotably disposed at the sub-chassis 112, presses an unlocking protrusion 193 formed at an end of the locking lever 191 in a direction so that the locking protrusion 195 is leased from the locking recess 197. Simultaneously, the first and the second link members 160 and 170 pivot due to a recovery force of the resilient member 180, and accordingly, the tape cassette housing 120 ascends in a direction in which the tape cassette housing 120 is separated from the sub-chassis.
However, it is often the case with conventional tape recorders that the ascending/descending movement of the tape cassette housing is stopped with the locking protrusion 195 being blocked by an edge 197a of the locking recess 197 as the tape cassette is loaded/unloaded, as shown in FIG. 3. This stoppage occurs since the locking protrusion 195 and the edge 197a of the locking recess 197 come into contact with each other at a contact point where stress forces of the locking protrusion 195 and the edge 197a are exerted over each other in equilibrium. Stoppage occurs more frequently as the contact time of the locking protrusion 195 and the edge 197a increases. Accordingly, there has been a demand for reducing the contact time between the locking protrusion 195 and the edge 197a on the loading/unloading operations of the tape cassette.